BELGAUM: The historic Belgaum Fort is soon going to get a facelift. The 400-year-old fort which is in control of Archeological Department will be renovated by the state government.

The district administration has sought Rs 10 crore from the Tourism Department to repair the boundary walls. The fort is surrounded by a canal which at present is filled with dirty water.

The administration is planning to clean the canal and fill it with fresh water so that it can be used for boating. A plan has been prepared to lay a garden in front of the fort with fountains to attract more tourists.

Deputy Commissioner Ekroop Caur has already spoken to Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy and convinced him of the plan.

She told Express that the Tourism Department has agreed to the proposal and will soon release the funds.

Though the inner circle of the fort is under the supervision of the Archeological Department, several parts of the fort are occupied by government offices and other agencies.

Recently, the Income Tax Department started constructing quarters for its employees in front of the fort, however, the Archeological Survey of India stopped the construction.

The Blog was viewed more then 10000 Times by our readers, since 15th Dec 2007. Your kind co-operation was really necessary for making my blog a big success.

The procedure to Save the Two 11th Century Jain Temple namely, Kamal Basadi and Chikki Basadi or Ratta Basadi of Belgaumis still on and as I get more inputs, I will keep updating you all through this Blog. So keep visiting for more updates and keep writing Comments.

One more great news is Google Maps has updated my comments of changing the icon of the Jain temples from a normal temple icon to a Jain hand symbol as shown below. A heart-full thanks to Google from all Jain community.

Ahimsa Hand:

The religious Ahisma hand symbol with a wheel on the palm symbolizes the Jain Vow of Ahimsa, meaning non-violence. The word in the middle is "Ahimsa." The wheel represents the dharmacakra, to halt the cycle of reincarnation through the pursuit of truth.

This small Mosque ( Jamia Masjid) which was earlier a Jain or Shiva temple.

Jamia Masjid as seen in 1910

The Jamia Masjid, dated 1585-86, was built by Sher Khan. This mosque is just 50 meters away from the ruined Shiva temple. It has still got many of its inner walls with Jain or Shiva scripts and the king was unable to remove all the art work inside the temple as he did for Safa masjid, which was also earlier a Shiva temple. No one is allowed entry into this as it is under ASI.

Jamia Masjid as seen in 2010

The fort has two mosques or masjids, namely the Safa Masjid and Jamia Masjid; the former mosque is the most frequented by the Muslim population of the city of Belgaum. Safa masjid was completed in 1519 by Asad Khan Lari (testified by the Persian inscription). The Mosque’s pillars have exquisite inscriptions in a fusion of Nagari and Persian styles. It is also said that two of the pillars here are from Hindu temples and have Kannada inscriptions in Nagari scripts; one pillar dated to 1199 AD is credited to Ratta King Kartaveerya IV and the other pillar dated to 1261 AD is credited to Sevuna (Yadava) Krishna.

With so much history near us we are not aware of this. Seeing the current condition of this monument our future generations will have to only see it on AAB.

Not many know this but there was old Shiv Temple in the Fort near the Military Training area. The same as been taken over by the ASI in 2008-09 and they have upgraded it with new doors.

Ruined Shiva Temple

This Shiva temple was built in 12th century.

There were 108 Jain temples and 101 Shiva temples in the fort and the fort was built after demolishing many of these temples luckily 5 were spared out of which 2 are mosques now and 2 Jain temples and 1 Shiva temple.

Shiva Temple as located on Map

But the present condition of the temple is worse. When AAB tried to access the temple for the photos the gate was locked and with grass up to a feet high it was not advised by passers by to enter the premises as they said it will have snakes.

Entrance to the temple with all grass

So team AAB entered from the rear side and took the pics and the temple from inside looked completely empty.

The ASI board is visible on one side of this temple, but lack of interest will make this ruined temple into ruins again.

The Belgaum fort built in 13 century (Originally built by the Ratta dynasty, later fortified by Yakub Ali Khan of the Bijapur Sultanate) was well known for its unique building structure and its huge moat surrounding the fort, which made it inaccessible to the enemies. The Belgaum fort served as a bulwark against the attacks of invading armies. It steadfastly held fort as Belgaum played host to a multitude of dynasties, from the Rattas, the Vijayanagar emperors, Bijapur Sultans, Marathas and finally the British. During the freedom movement of India, Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned here.

The inside of the fort is stretched about 1000 yards long and 800 yards broad. The fort was well built as a Military store.

This particular photo was taken from a burz (watch tower) on the Right hand side when once enters the fort from Bhartesh College.

Some more images to speak for themselves. We have a treasure with us but we never care for this as we our selves dont know about it.

The Walls most of them have fallen down but a few are still telling history

Another view of the Tower top

View from the tower. In history this vie must have been used to keep a watch on enemies

The south west region was ruled by the Kuras during the 1st century AD and they were the major power. Brahmapuri and Madhavapur (Kolhapur and Belgaum) were the two major seats. Some of the military achievements over Chutus show the influence of Chutus in their coinage. They mainly ruled between 30 BC and 65 AD as could be understood by the victory of Nahapana over Kuras. The King Vilivayukura is even quoted in Ptolemy's work and seems to be the last king who was defeated by the Satavahanas giving way for Chutus to circulate their coins in this area. All the coins minted by the Kuras were in lead. The bow and arrow decorated the coin obverse and the reverse of their coinage usually carried Chaitya, railed tree and river symbols along with the Brahmi legend along the periphery.

The south west region was ruled by the Kuras during the 1st century AD and they were the major power. Brahmapuri and Madhavapur (Kolhapur and Belgaum) were the two major seats. Some of the military achievements over Chutus shows the influence of Chutus in their coinage. They mainly ruled between 30 BC and 65 AD as could be understood by the victory of Nahapana over Kuras. The King Vilivayukura is even quoted in Ptolemy's work and seems to be the last king who was defeated by the Satavahanas giving way for Chutus to circulate their coins in this area. All the coins minted by the Kuras were in lead. The bow and arrow decorated the coin obverse and the reverse of their coinage usually carried Chaitya, railed tree and river symbols along with the Brahmi legend along the periphery.

The south west region was ruled by the Kuras during the 1st century AD and they were the major power. Brahmapuri and Madhavapur (Kolhapur and Belgaum) were the two major seats. Some of the military achievements over Chutus shows the influence of Chutus in their coinage. They mainly ruled between 30 BC and 65 AD as could be understood by the victory of Nahapana over Kuras. The King Vilivayukura is even quoted in Ptolemy's work and seems to be the last king who was defeated by the Satavahanas giving way for Chutus to circulate their coins in this area. All the coins minted by the Kuras were in lead. The bow and arrow decorated the coin obverse and the reverse of their coinage usually carried Chaitya, railed tree and river symbols along with the Brahmi legend along the periphery.